Phoenix
by ashandareii
Summary: While on a mission at Control Core Angel, Axton discovers that the Guardian Angel is not quite as dead as first thought.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is my first fanfiction. Whether or not I continue with this story will be based on the reception of my first couple of chapters.**

* * *

The night was quiet around Sanctuary. The noise of revelers at Moxxi's was all but whisked away by the brisk breeze from the Highlands that whistled through the monolith at Sanctuary's centre and buffeted the door to the HQ. Inside the building, sheltered from the most of the wind, lay Axton, the commando, collapsed bonelessly on his bunk. The only noises he could hear past the wind were Salvador's snores and the drone of Zer0 rhythmically sharpening his sword. Axton was absolutely exhausted. Almost a day earlier, he and his fellow vault hunters had defeated Handsome Jack, prospective dictator of Pandora and CEO of the Hyperion company. Jack had not gone down easily, however, and had summoned the Warrior, an ancient, godlike beast with the intent of ending all life on Pandora. After a long and strenuous battle, the vault hunters had triumphed and vanquished their foe, along with Handsome Jack. In fact, the very party occurring at that very moment was a celebration of the downfall of Jack and the continued existence of the residents of Sanctuary. Axton, much to the disappointment of the grateful townsfolk, had decided to forgo the party in favour getting some decent rest. Which is why he was understandably irritated to hear his ECHO go off with a loud ping. He groaned loudly and smacked his hand in the general direction if the noise. The ECHO clicked and Lilith's voice came through, sounding faintly tired. She, too, was rather the worse for wear after the battle at the vault of the warrior.

"Sorry to disturb your well-deserved rest, killer, but I've got an urgent job that needs doing."

Axton let out another groan, this one considerably louder that the previous one. Lilith sounded amused.

"I'll take that as a yes. Get yourself down here in five, alright?".

The ECHO beeped, then went silent. Zer0 gave him a look that, even with his mask, could clearly be seen as pitying. Salvador grunted, having been awakened by the noise of the ECHO.

"No rest for the wicked, amigo" He rumbled, then promptly fell asleep again. Axton swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, making the springs squeal. He clipped on all his gear and wearily made his way downstairs to the briefing area.

Lilith smiled at his bedraggled state when he entered the room.

"Finally up, eh? Good."

He looked around the room, and for the first time noticed the other person in the room. He was wearing the yellow of Hyperion. Instantly, Axton pulled out his assault rifle and trained the sights on the man, who stumbled back and raised his hands above his head. Before he could do anything more, Lilith broke in.

"Whoa there killer, this man has information that could be useful; hear him out". Axton lowered his rifle, but continued to glare at the informant. The man smiled nervously at him, then spoke, words coming out in a rush.

"So I was a worker at the Hyperion" he swallowed "base in Thousand Cuts and I overheard some of the new officers talking about plans to pack up and leave Pandora. This might sound great to you, but I know for a fact that there is information about sirens and eridium usage in Control Core Angel that might interest you"

He tailed off as he looked at Lilith.

"Did you really kill... him? Handsome Jack?"

Lilith nodded, and the informant swallowed again. Lilith dismissed the man from the room, then turned to Axton.

"The man may be a fool, but I think he's right about this. We do need this information. Hyperion's extraction is due to occur in the next couple of days, so unless you want to go through a swarm of Hyperion employees to get this info, I suggest you leave for Thousand Cuts soon."

"But why me? You could of chosen anyone for this mission!" Axton asked incredulously. "I'm exhausted!"

Lilith winced sympathetically. "Sorry killer, but you're the one who still has Handsome Jack's pocket watch. You're the only one who can get through that door. I need you there."

She turned to go, but said over her shoulder;

"And before you go, you should probably freshen up. You smell terrible."

And with that, she was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Possible explanation for bosses respawning?  
**

* * *

Axton left the compound fifteen minutes later, considerably cleaner, and considerably more awake. The Pandoran sun was brightly shining in an almost obnoxious manner, and Axton was scowling as he made his way over to the fast travel machine in Pierce Station, only stopping to avoid Claptrap, who was trundling along the street. Leaving the dwindling sound of dubsteb behind him, Axton traveled to Thousand Cuts. The journey to the Hyperion base was fairly uneventful, with most of Brick's slabs avoiding him, and the journey through the base was equally so. The remaining Hyperion personnel were mostly too terrified to cross him, and those who did were sent scurrying with a couple of well placed rounds. Axton was on a mission, and would not be distracted. As he reached the the entrance to the bunker, he hesitated. This place brought back bad memories. Memories of a brave siren and a strong leader, of a noble sacrifice and a cowardly bullet to the back. Memories of death and loss. Of Jack's cruelty.

Axton growled in his throat and a nearby engineer let out a high pitched squeak and dashed away into a building. Ignoring him, Axton took a deep breath, then strode through the door.

He made his way up the familiar steps, when suddenly he heard a noise. A noise he had not heard in a very long time. An engine starting up. Robotic laughter. BNK3R.

Axton sprinted up the stairs and onto the centre platform. Before him, hanging in the air, was a very much not dead BNK3R, the robot Jack had designed to guard Angel. Axton was so stunned by the revelation that the robot was still alive that he almost didn't notice when the auto cannons on BNK3R's chassis started firing at him. He scrambled for cover as the ground behind him was torn up by cannon fire. Sliding behind some crates, he pulled out his ECHO.

"LILITH! BNK3R is still alive! He's near Control Core Angel!"

He could hear Lilith's breath catch. "Holy mother of... how is that thing still alive!? You killed it!"

Axton pulled out a corrosive SMG and fired a few shots at the robot overhead. "I'm thinking the same thing! Also thinking about _not dying_!" he shouted into the ECHO as he ducked up the stairs and behind a column at the top of the stairs.

"Do you need backup? What's your status?" Lilith asked urgently.

Axton threw his Sabre turret onto the roof of the structure and crouched down, regaining his composure.

"No one could get here in time, Lilith. I think I have to do this solo. Status? Still being shot at. BNK3R seems weaker this time. Maybe lasting damage from our original battle? I'll keep you updated."

He clipped the ECHO to his belt and fired a couple more rounds into the cluster of robotic eyes at BNK3R's front. His turret continued to fire round after round at the robot, and Axton could see it beginning to falter. He unloaded the rest of the magazine into the critical point and then dashed to the centre of the platform, leapt onto a stack of crates and drew a rocket launcher. As BNK3R groaned to a halt hovering over the platform, Axton leveled the launcher and pulled the trigger.

A rocket shot through the air, cutting it like a knife, and buried itself into the exact centre of BNK3R's weak spot. The force of the explosion shattered the red eyes and left a gaping hole in the robot's chassis. As BNK3R shook violently and sunk to the platform, Axton lobbed a grenade into the newly-made hole. The grenade ripped BNK3R apart, twisted scraps of metal flying past Axton's face. He gazed upon the destruction he had caused and grinned with the thrill of the fight.

"And stay down." He growled at the almost unrecognisable hunk of metal that used to be Handsome Jack's guard robot. His ECHO switched on, but there was silence. The Lilith's voice came through.

"Killer, did you just solo kill BNK3R? You _are_ a badass."

Axton smiled.

"Almost at Control Core Angel. I'll get that info, don't you worry."

He leapt down from the crates. He had a job to do, and he'd be damned if he'd let anything stop him. He'd get that info. After going through the loot that BNK3R had dropped. He was a vault hunter, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Warning: Long(er) chapter ahead**

* * *

After sifting through the rubble in search of good loot, Axton made his way back down the stairs to the doors that lead to Control Core Angel. He cut through the yellow tape obstructing the doors with a contemptuous flick of his tomahawk, then paused. He activated the voice modulator of the pocketwatch, and placed it into the slot in the wall. The familiar, cool female voice of the Hyperion AI came through clearly, with only a slight crackle betraying its disuse.

"Preparing bio-scan. Please stand on the Hyperion emblem"

With a sense of déjà vu, Axton stepped forwards onto the emblem as the blue light of the bio-scan drifted across the cubicle.

"Scanning bio-signature. Bio-signature confirmed. Hello, sexy. Awaiting password."

Axton remembered Handsome Jack's password to access Angel's chambers, but he hesitated yet again. The last time he had stood here, he and his comrades, flush with the success of the plan and excitement of battle, had been confident. They were but three words away from the vault key, and being that much closer to ending Jack's dastardly plot. If only they had knew then what terrible things would occur in the very chambers that stood before them. With a heavy heart, Axton spoke the password.

"I love you."

The words felt different this time, as if they held a different meaning. As the doors hissed open and Axton stepped through, a faint whisper and a trail of white passed almost unnoticeably out of the open doors.

Axton dropped all the way down the long elevator shaft, dust swirling around his feet as he landed in a crouch. Lights flickered on behind him as he slowly walked down the corridor, spilling a long shadow across the floor before him. He passed a broken New-U station, and shook his head sadly at the sight. Jack had broken it just before he killed Roland so as to prevent his respawning. With the respawn process interrupted, Roland's spirit had departed this world. Walking past this sorry sight, Axton opened the doors to the main chamber. The once majestic room was now desolate, with shattered eridium pipes and the broken bodies of Hyperion robots strewn across the floor. As he approached the centre of the room, he saw her.

Angel's body lay sprawled at the base of her prison, like a puppet with its strings cut. As Axton approached, he noticed with surprise that her body still looked as it did the day she died, despite the passage of time. He crouched and looked closer at her body. Although she had no pulse, her cheeks and lips still retained their natural rosiness, and her flesh showed no sign of decay. Puzzling at this defiance of nature, Axton moved to where Lilith had suggested the information might be; the centre of the room. Angel's prison.

Rooting through a chest in the middle of the prison, he came across several objects. Three ECHO recorders were stacked neatly in a corner, while in another corner lay a strange device labelled only as 'Emergency Eridium Injector'. Beside this sat several chunks of pure eridium, which were emitting a faint purple glow. Pocketing these objects, Axton turned to leave. Glancing ruefully down at Angel's body, he made his way slowly to the exit before it struck him, the niggling thought that had been at the back of his mind ever since he had entered the chamber.

Why had Handsome Jack installed a New-U station in Control Core Angel? Not having one would have made his job much easier, and killing one of the vault hunters would have sent them much farther away from the chamber. In fact, the only reason for having one here would be to protect whoever was in this room. Angel.

Her DNA must still be stored in the New-U, specifically, the custom New-U in her own chambers! Axton was sure that Handsome Jack would take extra precautions to ensure that Angel stayed firmly inside her prison, so this station must have been the only one she was connected to. If he could just repair this station, Angel could be reborn and the residual guilt that still lay on his shoulders could be eased. Though she had been adamant on the point that she must die, Axton still questioned the necessity of her death. It had ended the same as if she hadn't, with Handsome Jack taking a siren to charge the vault key, except for the fact that an innocent life had been ended. As he approached the New-U, his heart sunk suddenly. Of course. Angel must have disconnected herself from the network in order for her to die absolutely. But...

He glanced over at Angel's body.

If he could take some of her DNA and upload it to the system, it may still accept it. Her body looked extremely well preserved, after all, and her spirit may still be in limbo in the New-U system. It was an extremely feeble hope, but Axton clung to it as a drowning man to a piece of wood. Striding quickly to the machine, he reviewed the damage. Several key components were damaged badly, and many wires were cut right through. But, after all, he did have an engineer class mod. He could solder the wires easily enough, but the next part posed more of a challenge. To properly repair some of the more important components he would have to disconnect the New-U station so as not to shut it down completely. However, if he disconnected the station for too long it would reset, and lose all data stored on the device, and along with that, all hopes of Angel's resurrection. Muttering a quick prayer under his breath, Axton pulled the switch to disconnect the machine. A cool Hyperion voice spoke from the machine.

"Disconnected. Reset commencing in five minutes."

A blinking red timer appeared on a screen on the side of the machine.

 _A countdown_ , Axton thought. _Great_.

Spurred into action, he quickly pulled his tools from his pack and went to work on the machine. Lost in his work, he was surprised when he finally looked up, work finished.

The red digits displayed: 2:37.

Had he really finished in that little time? He flashed a grin of relief, then activated the test program. Slowly, the separate parts of the New-U lit up, and it shuddered briefly into life. Axton's hopes were dashed, however, by the next words that the now-hated cool voice spoke next.

"Digistruct key critically damaged. Shutting down."

Axton swore loudly. If the digistruct key was damaged, he couldn't fix it. He had to find a replacement, and fast.

2:01, read the timer.

Axton hurriedly rummaged through his bag, spilling equipment everywhere in his haste. He was searching for a Tediore weapon, as they all possessed digistruct keys that he could use in the New-U. He came up with nothing, and swore again.

1:41

Axton scanned the room. The Hyperion robot spawners were securely locked in the ground, no getting them up.

1:36

He looked around desperately, then closed his eyes. Where had he seen that telltale collection of purple blocks before. Recently.

His eyes snapped open.

His turret.

He pulled out the turret module and threw it to the ground. As it sprung to life before him, he hesitated for just a moment. His turret had served him well, and he was very attached to it. Everyone in Sanctuary, including himself, jokingly called it his girlfriend. The custom digistruct key that made the turret work so well was not something easily obtained. But what was a machine to the life of a living being. As precious as the key was, a life was priceless. Having taken his share of them, the least he could do was to return one to the world.

1: 19

Axton swore yet again. He was wasting time. He shut down his turret, then twisted and pulled the thin cylinder that contained the key. It came out with a hiss, releasing white fog into the air. Quickly snatching the small rectangular crystal that was the digistruct key, Axton returned to the New-U.

0:56

Axton felt inside the machine for its digistruct node

0:53

He swiftly pulled it out, and then ejected its current key, which was twisted and burnt.

0:47

Very carefully, he slotted his key into place. While the key was custom made for his turret, it would be a viable substitute for any other digistruct key. He hoped.

0:45

He pushed the digistruct node back into the machine, but it stopped halfway. It was stuck.

0:42

Panicking, Axton bent down and peered into the tangled mess of wires in the belly of the machine. A wire had slipped and has become stuck in the node.

0:38

With trembling fingers, Axton stretched his arm into the machine, careful not to brush any of the other wires, and reached for the rogue wire.

0:30

It slipped from his grasp

0:29

He grabbed it again and pulled it out of the node.

0:24

He quickly pushed the node back into the machine.

0:21

The voice spoke again.

"Digistruct key online. System repaired."

0:16

Axton slammed the switch to reconnect the New-U.

0:15

The machine groaned into life, and a maddeningly slow arc of electricity made its way lazily through the wire back to the wall.

0:10

The timer stopped. As Axton sunk to the floor in relief, the voice spoke once again.

"Reset aborted. Station online."

Axton closed his eyes. His job wasn't over yet. Slowly making his way over to Angel, he gazed down at her serene face. Bending down, he pulled several strands of hair from her head as tenderly as possible, and took them back to the New-U. Opening the DNA receptacle on the machine, he inserted the hairs into it. It closed with a hiss.

"Scanning... DNA accepted. Account 'Angel' recognised. Welcome back."

Axton held his breath. If this didn't work, if Angel's spirit had left, then this would have all been for nothing.

Suddenly, the New-U lit up with a blinding white light. Axton stumbled backwards as a shape emerged from the light. White wings spread wide, the figure of Angel came suddenly into focus, face uplifted.

Axton had seen respawns before, and hell, he had been on the receiving end of many, but he had never seen anything like this. In a final explosion of light that burned that image forever in Axton's mind, Angel rose, her entire body arched and arms lifted to her sides, and then floated gently down to the ground. Axton stepped close, and just in time too, as as soon as her feet touched the ground, she collapsed into his arms. She opened her eyes, her grey meeting Axton's green. She gasped in a ragged breath, then gripped his arms tightly.

"Why am I still alive! Jack! The Warrior! You have to..."

Axton stopped her with a finger to her lips.

"It's over. Jack and the Warrior are dead. We've won. You're safe now." He was smiling.

"Oh. Good." She said, and promptly fainted.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I will be continuing the story, though uploads may be a little slow. Also, thanks to sylphie3000 and Lymurice for great reviews, because as this is my first story it means a lot. Thanks.**

* * *

 _No, no, NO_. Axton thought as he lowered Angel quickly to the ground. Had something gone wrong in the digistruct process? New-U stations were great for respawning, but were about as useful as toasters for dealing with comas. What could he do?

He scanned the room hurriedly, beginning to panic slightly. All his work, for nothing. The joyful hope he had felt as Angel stirred to life, gone. That couldn't happen. That _would_ not happen. Axton strode to the New-U. If something had gone wrong in there again, he couldn't fix it. He had to trust in his earlier repairwork. Eyes strafing the desolate room, he saw it. A broken eridium injector.

Of course.

Scrambling back to his pack, he dug through it, then pulled out a syringe similar to an Anshin insta-health canister, the only differences being that the one in his hand was longer and made of a silvery metal. It was the emergency eridium injector he had retrieved for Lilith's mission. Opening the lid at the top, he slotted the chunks of eridium inside, then slammed the lid shut.

The injector hummed and vibrated, before purple lights flickered on along the sides of the injector. Axton bent over beside Angel and took a deep breath before piercing her arm with the needle and depressing the handles, injecting the eridium substance into her veins. Axton could see a faint spiderweb of white light under her skin before she sat up suddenly, breathing heavily.

Her eyes strafed over the debris-littered room, and then fixed on Axton's. He could see the utter confusion in her eyes, and behind that, fear. Seeing this awoke something in him, something he thought long dead. The desire to protect, to keep safe at any cost.

He smiled reassuringly at her, and her stricken expression faded slightly. He sighed.

"Handsome Jack is dead. He killed Roland and captured Lilith, but my fellow vault hunters and I defeated his Warrior and then Lilith, ah, kinda burned his brain from the inside."

He winced at his choice of words. Handsome Jack may have imprisoned her into a life of servitude, but he was still her father. Blood was blood. But Angel's expression, if anything, was relieved.

"So it's finally over."

Axton gave her an affirmative nod.

She leaned back against the New-U and let out an enormous breath. Axton stood and began putting all of his scattered equipment back into his pack. Looking up, he noticed Angel staring at him quizzically. He raised an eyebrow, and she blushed and said rather hurriedly;

"How did you get me back? I thought I had disconnected completely from the New-U network."

Axton placed a shield back in his pack.

"Well, all I did was to add some of your DNA back into the system, and it worked fine. You might have to connect to the wider network of New-U's, because at the moment this station is the only one you're connected to, and I'm pretty sure my repairs won't last forever."

"Repairs?"

"Ah, yeah. So, when Jack came down here to kill us, he broke the machine so that Roland couldn't respawn as he died. I fixed it up, but I had to use a custom digistruct key and I'm fairly certain that it is now in some state of being melted."

He gestured towards the New-U and his broken turret.

Angel gazed at the turret in horror. "Oh Axton! You dismantled your turret? But what will you do without it? I know how important it is to you and I know that custom digistruct keys aren't easy to come by!"

Axton watched her fussing over his turret with equal measures of amusement and exasperation.

"Angel, you were LITERALLY brought back from the dead and you're worrying about a turret? As much as digistruct keys are worth, they are nothing compared to the life of a hero. I would happily sacrifice my turret a million times over to return you to life."

Angel looked up, and he caught a brief glimpse of tears in her eyes before she tacked him in a hug.

"Thank you." She said in a voice muffled by his Dahl issue jacket.

Axton awkward patted her on the back. He was not used to hugs. "No problem, kid. Anytime."

Angel gave a shaky laugh against his chest. "I should hope not. Dying is not something I want to go through again. "

Axton chuckled, then stood, lifting her up gently by the waist. "Let's get you outta here. I'm gonna have to answer a _lot_ of questions back at Sanctuary. I came down here to get some information about sirens, and I return with an actual siren, one back fron the dead, no less."

"Info on sirens?" Angel asked.

Axton showed her the ECHOs and she went slightly pale. "Yeah, you're going to want to get those back to Lilith."

Axton glanced at the ECHOs. "What's in them?"

Angel looked at them with not a little bit of unease. "Nothing good."

* * *

Two figures made their way from the Sanctuary fast travel station to the Crimson Raiders HQ in the dying light of the Pandoran dusk. Axton was half-carrying Angel, who was still recovering from her eridium deficiency. She had explained to him that, even though she was out of the prison and not charging the vault key, she still needed weekly doses of eridium for at least a month in order to function properly.

As they stumbled into the map room, they were met with an extremely irate, redheaded siren. Lilith.

"What is this?" She demanded. Axton frowned. He had expected Lilith of all people to be pleased by Angel's recovery.

"Why was I not informed? You had your ECHO on you the whole time and not ONCE did you consider that I might possibly like to know that you brought Angel back from the dead?" She stormed at him. Axton awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah... sorry about that. I just got distracted. "

Lilith sniffed dismissively.

"And my information?" She questioned. Axton glanced at Angel before holding up the three ECHO recorders.

"Here. Though I think Angel wants to tell you something about them."

Lilith looked at Angel for the first time and her severe expression softened. "Come inside, sister. We have much to talk about." Axton followed the two sirens to the table, and placed the recorders on the table. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the button to play the first ECHO.

There was a crackling noise, then a male voice, which the ECHO identified as 'Doctor Yana' came through the speaker. He sounded weary as he spoke.

"Day 365, test 12. Test subject number 4,304 shows signs of burn marks and internal spontaneous combustion."

A muffled voice could be heard screaming in the background.

"Test inconclusive. All attempts to recreate the ability in a test subject continue to be met with failure."

Doctor Yana sighed.

"However, curious effects have occurred when a test subject accidentally transferred energy into a nearby table. The table reportedly began to glow, then exploded in light, killing a lab assistant. No damage had been done to the table. Though our human tests have been fruitless, I believe that tests with objects and humans could yield better results. We will commence testing this theory in two days."

The ECHO clicked and went silent. Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"This just sounds like more of those messed-up experiments Hyperion does at the Exploitation Reserve. What has this got to do with sirens?"

Angel nodded to Axton grimly. "Play the next ECHO."

Axton obliged.

Again there was a crackling noise, except this time the voice that came through was jarringly familiar. The hated voice of Handsome Jack.

"So, Doctor, how goes that super-secret research project I set you on?"

Across the table, he could see both sirens' faces tighten at the sound of Jack's voice. There were no good memories there. Doctor Yana's voice came from the ECHO again.

"Sir. While the original human tests yielded little results, our new tests with the channels are working very well indeed. In the first five tests alone, not only did four of the subjects survive, but they all managed to display their new powers adequately at the range. This is a great day."

Handsome Jack let out a low laugh. "Doctor, this is wonderful news. It's great to see people showing initiative. But, you're very fortunate that your little hunch worked. If you bend my orders again, I might send you back to the Preserve. And not as a worker. Got it, cupcake?"

Doctor Yana let out an audible gulp. "Uh.. yessir. I'll get you your siren army in no time."

The click of the ECHO was almost deafening in the silent room. Axton glanced up to see Lilith's face, looking as if all the blood had drained from it. "A siren army. Jack was building a siren army." She said in a choked voice.

Axton glanced at Angel with a worried look on his face. "But we killed Jack. His plans must be over, surely."

Angel pointed at the third ECHO with a look of horrified anticipation. Axton slowly reached out and pressed the button with a sense of dread that was only emphasised by the voice that came out of the machine. Jack's second in command. Blake.

"Doctor Yana, I do hope you have a reason for being here." The icy voice was as sinister as ever. When Yana spoke, he sounded hesitant.

"Is it true? Is Handsome Jack dead?."

"Yes. It is true. I fail to see, however, how this impacts you. Your job remains the same. Create new sirens. Train new sirens. Build a siren army. We are pulling back from Pandora and pooling our resources. With this army, we will be able to crush anyone who opposes us. Now, get back to your planet and get back to work."

Click.

Lilith's hands were shaking as she reached for her ECHO and began broadcasting a message to the vault hunters.

"I'm gonna need you all to come to the HQ. We have a situation."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N New chapter! Keep in mind that I am _very_ new at this so please tell me if your eyes start bleeding while you read this chapter. Reviews will be very appreciated. Thanks.**

* * *

Overall, Angel thought, as she watched Axton leave the headquarters and disappear into the darkening night, that meeting went quite well, despite the fact that it was about their impending destruction.

The vault hunters had arrived in a typically haphazard fashion. Excluding Lilith and Axton, Maya had been the first to arrive. After getting over the shock of seeing Angel again, she had swept her up in a tight, bordering on painful, hug. Gaige had been the next to arrive, and though she was thrilled Angel was alive she was more interested in finding out exactly how Axton had repaired the New-U.

Brick had arrived supporting an extremely drunk Mordecai, and closely followed by an only slightly less drunk Salvador. Brick and Mordecai were more or less underwhelmed by Angel's miraculous revival due to the fact that they had never really met her before, but Salvador, on the other hand, had been very clear in drunkenly expressing his gratitude that Angel had survived, which would have been sweet had he not been speaking entirely in Spanish.

The only people not to show any signs of surprise at Angel were Zer0, who had appeared so suddenly in the room, no-one could quite be sure how long he had been there for, and Krieg, who had run in, screamed for a while about poop trains, then sat down at a word from Maya. However, Zer0 was a faceless ninja assassin who (apparently) was incapable of expressing emotions and Krieg was just insane, so Angel could understand their reactions.

Once everyone had arrived, Lilith had explained to the group the situation. Reactions varied ones of absolute horror (from Maya), to concern (from Brick), to raving anger (from Salvador and Krieg). Eventually, once everyone had calmed down, a general consensus had been reached. They would wait for a few days until Hyperion was in the middle of its mass evacuation, and then Angel would be able to hack the space station. Gaige was in charge of constructing a backdoor device and Zer0 had volunteered to sneak it aboard a Hyperion evacuation ship. With this, Angel could hack into the Hyperion network and access the coordinates of the siren training facility. Because they didn't know exactly when the ships would be leaving, this left Angel with a surprising amount of free time on her hands.

Lilith coughed behind her, breaking Angel out of her reverie. She spun to see the red-headed siren looking at her with an amused expression on her face.

"Already missing him?"

Angel blushed and began stammering an explanation, but Lilith cut her off with a smirk. "Don't worry, you'll be seeing plenty of him these next few days. If you're going to infiltrate a Hyperion base filled with angry sirens you're probably going to need some combat training and I'm sure that Axton will be happy to teach you."

The only remaining vault hunter in the room, Maya, hid a smile.

Angel recovered her composure and nodded, then headed for the door, but before she had set a foot outside of the room Lilith's voice came from behind her, this time with a serious undertone.

"Speaking of Axton, he never did get round to telling us exactly how he brought you back."

Angel turned in the doorway, confused.

"Didn't you hear him explaining to Gaige? As I remember it was fairly detailed."

Lilith shook her head.

"Not that. Not the New-U. How did he get your DNA back into the machine? No offense, but by all rights you should have respawned as a rotting corpse, but you look fine."

Angel could see a spark of hope in Lilith's eyes. Of course. Roland. She opened her mouth, though she had no idea what to say. She was spared from this by Maya, who spoke up suddenly from the corner.

"Sorry Lil. It's a siren thing. I remember something I heard about in my search for information on sirens. Because there has to be six sirens existing at one time in the universe, sirens can't really die until their cycle in the universe is over. Siren cycles last for about a hundred years, give or take a couple of decades. Once a siren reaches the end of her cycle, she dies, and a new siren is born somewhere in the universe. If a siren dies before her cycle is over, her body and spirit are in some kind of advanced stasis, at least until her cycle finishes. This phenomenon allowed Angel to respawn as if she had died seconds ago, as opposed to respawning as a decomposing body."

A thoughtful expression appeared on her face.

"The six siren rule must also be the reason why Jack couldn't create any more human sirens. Though this whole deal with people channelling siren powers through objects worries me."

Lilith's shoulders slumped slightly.

"Thanks, Maya." She said in a flat voice. She turned back to Angel.

"Angel. Go see if Axton will train you, and after that get some sleep. There's an empty apartment near Zed's. Former occupant said something about a noisy Claptrap, but I'm sure you can deal with that. Run along now."

Angel nodded, and raising a hand in farewell to Maya, departed the building.

~o~

After much asking around, Angel eventually discovered Axton's location. She made her way through the dark alleys of Sanctuary to Scooter's Garage, and opened the door, spilling light across the dusty street. She stepped inside, and was greeted by the sound of a radio, the music accompanied by a sharp cracking noise from time to time. On the metal railing beside the door, she saw a discarded Dahl military jacket. So Axton was in.

She made her way quietly down the metal stairs, the sound of her footfalls drowned out by the radio. She turned at the first landing, and froze.

Axton was leaning over a workbench pressed up against the back wall, hidden from view from the door. The cracking noise Angel had heard was coming from a glassy crystalline sphere that he was striking repeatedly with a hammer. This was not the reason Angel's brain had momentarily stopped. The reason was actually Axton's noticeable lack of a shirt.

Angel was no stranger to the male body. She had, after all, been connected to the entire ECHOnet. But she had never physically seen one this close before, and especially one as... defined as Axton's. In fact, Angel was woefully inexperienced in almost everything. If she was honest with herself, Sanctuary terrified her. Though, through information gathered from Hyperion satellite imagery, she could probably navigate through the city blindfolded, the sheer vibrancy of life in the city and the people frightened her. Before this, her entire physical universe consisted almost entirely of what was within the walls of Control Core Angel. Sure, she knew about the rest of Pandora, and indeed, much of the universe in general, but all of her interactions with the outside world were done through the ECHOnet. This was why, when confronted with this sight, her brain shut down.

She knew enough to know that this was not a normal reaction. On her way here, she had passed a drunk hanging out his washing wearing nothing, and she had passed almost without batting an eye, though a slight blush could have possibly made an appearance on her cheeks. True, she had always spent a little more time watching Axton over the ECHO than any of the other vault hunters, but that didn't mean anything, did it?

Her senses came back in a rush when a silence fell over the room.

Axton was standing with a hand on the radio and an apologetic expression on his face as he pulled on a Dahl-issue shirt.

"Sorry about that, I didn't hear you come in."

The shirt was very tight-fitting.

"What do you need?"

Angel recovered enough to speak.

"Lilith... Lilith said that I should ask you for combat training. Is that okay?"

Axton gave her a smile that made her pulse race.

"That's a great idea! I'll set up something tomorrow, once I'm done with this digi-crystal."

Angel peered at the sphere on the table behind him, embarrassment giving way to curiosity.

"Is that what digistruct keys are made of? How did you get it?"

"Gaige lent me one. Very fortunately, she had one spare." Axton replied. "I have to crack the outer casing before I can shape the crystal inside. He turned and raised the hammer again, and Angel hastily moved to his side as so not to be exposed to her earlier view. After a few more ringing strikes, the casing cracked open and a softly glowing crystal was exposed. Axton motioned to another bench, this one covered in a layer of various haphazardly arranged tools.

"Could you pass me a chisel?"

She rummaged through the tools until she came across a pointed metal object. Pulling it out, she spun to give it to him and suddenly found her face mere inches from Axton's.

She had never before realised exactly how green his eyes were. Every instinct in her body told her to move, to either flee, or to close the distance between them, but she was yet again frozen in place. She was suddenly, painfully, aware of exactly how little clothing separated the two of them.

A loud clanging broke the spell. She had dropped the chisel.

Face burning, she bent to pick it up and heard Axton chuckle softly. "Long day? Should have known. You did, after all, just return from the dead. Let's get you inside. Did Lilith give you that apartment?"

Angel wanted nothing more than to tell him that it wasn't her fatigue but his stupid face that caused her to drop the chisel, but she was, in all honesty, very tired. She nodded faintly. Axton bundled her up the stairs, only stopping to drape his coat over her shoulders.

"You must be freezing, in that thing."

Angel couldn't muster up the energy to argue. Only now did she realise the strain she had been under that day. She could barely make it to the doorstep of her apartment, but when she did, she turned to face Axton, mustering up her courage.

"Axton. I... I just wanted to thank you again for saving me. I don't know if anyone else could have thought of repairing that New-U, or would care enough to try." She smiled faintly up at him, and, before she could lose her nerve, she stood up on her toes and placed a swift kiss on his cheek, then fled up her stairs. She did not look back, but if she did, she would have seen the startled commando softly rubbing the place on his cheek where her lips had briefly been, a thoughtful expression on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Happy new year! Sorry this chapter took so long, but the holidays are going to mess with my upload schedule a bit. Thanks to TylerJoe2319 for an awesome review, please keep these coming, they make me very happy. I feed off reviews. They are my sustenance.  
**

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The crack of a gunshot rang throughout the hills of the Three Horns valley, shortly followed by the noise of a bullet hitting concrete. Axton leaned against the side of a broken down bus and, with considerable effort, refrained from letting out a deep sigh. In front of him stood Angel, muttering angrily as she fiddled with the reloading mechanism of a Jakobs pistol. Axton stood wearily and walked over to her, gently prising the gun from her grip. She gave him a sheepish smile as he popped out the cylinder, reloaded the gun and spun it back into place in one smooth movement.

"Sorry Axton, I'm just no good at this!"

Axton handed back the pistol with a rather forced smile.

"No problem. You just have to practice."

Angel swung the gun up and aimed it at the empty bottle of rakk-ale (borrowed from Mordecai) that Axton had placed on the roof of a broken down car sitting in the Happy Pig Motel to act as target practice for her to shoot at. So far, she had peppered the wall of the motel behind the bottle with bullets, but the bottle itself remained intact. Axton watched as she peered down the sights at the bottle, and then pulled the trigger. Chips of concrete flew from the wall behind the bottle as the bullet again failed to find its mark. This was the thirty-first time that this had happened. Giving up, Axton strode forwards so that he was positioned directly behind Angel.

"Here. I'll guide you."

He could hear her intake of breath as his arms snaked around her slender body and his hands wrapped around her own on the gun. She was still wearing his coat. She had made no attempt to return it to him, and he had no desire to take it back. Wearing only his shirt allowed surprisingly more maneuverability and besides, he had to admit that Angel looked good in it.

Steadying her hands, he leant down and spoke softly in her ear.

"Can you see the bottle in the sights?"

Angel said nothing, but gave a tiny nod. Axton tightened his grip on her hands and squeezed gently on the trigger. Another crack, this time accompanied by a tinkling sound as the bottle shattered, scattering broken glass on the ground. He drew back his arms and chuckled.

"There you go. Just a matter of steadying your grip. You're taking too long aiming, you see. It's putting off your accuracy."

Angel turned her head and gave him a smile that was oddly shaky.

"Thank you."

Axton shrugged and grinned.

"It's a long way to go in less than a week, but you're getting the hang if it. Now, let's do that again."

~o~

Torture. It was torture. This must be what torture felt like, thought Angel, as she trudged back up the stairs of her apartment and collapsed on her bed. She could still smell him, the mixture of sweat and cheap cologne that was undeniably Axton. The scent also lingered on the coat that hung from her shoulders. She had been meaning to return it to him, but couldn't make herself do it, and he seemed not to want it back.

She rolled over so she was staring at the roof. She didn't think she could bear it for much longer.

His arms, wrapped around her body. His voice, breathing in her ear.

'Just a matter of steadying your grip'? Honestly! Could the man not see what he was doing to her? Could he not see that she was undone at his slightest of touches? He had no right! How dare he affect her in such a way and be completely oblivious to the fact! She clenched her fist. This had to stop. The only way to end this would be to be able to shoot accurately on her own.

Though physically and emotionally exhausted by today's training, Angel pulled out the pistol from Axton's jacket pocket and made her way slowly back to the fast travel station. She sighed. More practice.

~o~

Angel watched the bottle shatter with the now-familiar sound of breaking glass. Axton looked up at her with no small surprise.

"You're improving fast. Very fast. You're a natural!"

Angel managed a small grin. Axton smiled back.

"I think it's time for a more challenging target. Up for a bit of hunting?"

Angel swallowed. Axton stood, dusting the seat of his pants.

"Don't worry. It's just a few skags."

He led her over the road and to the skag nest. From the corner of her eye, Angel could see skags emerging from the shadows of their nests and stalking towards them slowly. Axton pulled out a Vladof assault rifle.

"Pick some off. I'll deal with any that get too close."

Angel raised the pistol and took a deep breath. It was just like the bottle. These were just bottles. Large, hairy, four-legged, murderous bottles with rows of long sharp teeth and claws as long as her fingers. She aimed at the smallest skag and steadied her shot, then pulled the trigger.

The skag's head exploded into a red mist that almost made her drop the pistol. That most definitely did not happen to the bottles. The skags surrounding them roared in fury and bounded towards them with great bounds. Angel felt something, a sensation she had never felt before, save for the times she had secretly disobeyed Jack. The thrill, the adrenaline pumping in her veins. She was a siren, a force of nature meant not for a life of servitude but one of excitement and adventure. Almost without thinking, she swung the pistol up and shot an adult skag directly in the mouth as it roared, this time, the blood did not faze her. Axton laughed beside her, and she could tell that he too was feeling the thrill of the fight.

Much sooner than she expected, she was standing with Axton among the scattered corpses of an entire skag nest. She turned and looked at Axton, who was smirking at her with a knowing expression on his face.

"So... bit different, wasn't it?"

Angel let the pistol drop to her side.

"Holy shit!" She exclaimed, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, mortified. Axton approached her and gently took her hand away from her face, grinning.

"Hey, it's cool, everyone here does it. It's Pandora, remember, and now there's no Jack to punish you."

Angel smiled tremulously up at him and gripped his hand tighter. Axton's face darkened.

"He really hurt you, didn't he. Bastard." Angel could see something in his eyes that was cold and hard, and shivered slightly. Axton glanced down at her and it faded, replaced by warmth.

"Well, that's enough for today. I think we'd better get back to Sanctuary."

She offered him back his pistol, but he shook his head.

"Keep it. It's better than anything Marcus could give you, and you're getting good with it. We'll make a killer out of you in no time!"

Thought the words were delivered in a jovial tone, there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

~o~

As the pair returned to Sanctuary, Lilith's voice spoke over the ECHO.

"Hey. Zer0 and Gaige are back from their mission, so head to HQ when you're ready."

Axton nodded to Angel, and the two made their way to the headquarters. As they ascended the stairs, they heard faint conversation.

"I take it the mission was a success." Said Lilith.

"The mission is done / infiltration successful / The device is set." The haiku determined this speaker as Zer0. The three vault hunters turned as Axton entered the room, followed by Angel. Lilith was the first to speak.

"So, Angel, how goes the... ah... training." She gave Angel an enormous wink, and Angel turned scarlet. Axton, missing this, spoke to her as he leaned against the central table.

"Very good, actually. Angel is a very quick learner."

Lilith arched an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

She gestured to Zer0 and Gaige, who were conversing privately.

"These two have returned from their mission. Gaige has informed me that the ship took off almost as soon as Zer0 left it, and by her calculations that means that by now the backdoor device should almost be in range. Angel, it's up to you now."

Angel nodded and walked to the computer in the room. She tapped a few buttons, and a whirring noise began as the monitor began to start up. Axton watched her as she typed. A few strands of hair had come loose and had fallen over her face, but she just blew it off and continued typing, face filled with concentration. Her tattoos began to faintly glow and he could see her brow smoothen, as if worries had been lifted from her shoulders. He thought he could understand. They all had their thing. His was combat. Gaige's was engineering. Zer0's was meditating or composing haikus or ninja-ing.

Angel's was hacking.

He had been in her position once. When he seen them for the first time, he had been more than a little intimidated by Roland, Lilith, Brick and Mordecai. They had been badass vault hunters, supremely confident in their abilities and their skills. He, on the other hand, had barely begun as a vault hunter. That had all changed after the first disastrous assault on Control Core Angel, when he and the other new vault hunters had to take charge. This, he supposed, was Angel taking charge for once. While hacking, she was in her element. In total control.

A red flashing bar had appeared on the screen and Angel began typing faster, poking the tip of her tongue between her teeth.

 _Adorable._

Axton gave a start, and almost knocked over Gaige, who glared at him, but he was too startled to notice. Where had that thought come from? He glanced back at Angel. He didn't think about her like that, did he?

What about the way he had felt when she had come back to life? What about the way he had felt when she had kissed him outside her apartment? And holding her in his arms, even for such an innocent reason as combat training, that too had felt... right. Axton put a hand to his head. He was almost a decade older than her, for pity's sake! And he was her mentor; he couldn't afford to think like that! He would not! He looked up again, resolute, and saw that the strand of hair had fallen back over her eyes. Oh God. This was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done.

Beside Angel, Lilith was staring at him with an eyebrow raised. He immediately busied himself with fiddling with his class mod. The awkwardness was broken when Angel let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm in."

Everyone looked at the screen. Angel put a hand on the monitor.

"Executing phase shift."

Her tattoos glowed an almost blinding white and the air shimmered slightly. A new window popped up on the screen, this one showing coordinates and a map. Angel took an exaggerated bow, a wide grin on her face.

"Ladies, gentlemen and Zer0, I present the Circe Siren Training Facility."

Lilith whistled appreciatively.

"Well done Angel. It's time to put an end to Hyperion's plans for world domination. Again."

On their way out, Lilith pulled Angel aside.

"I know all about your secret night-time training sessions." Angel opened her mouth but Lilith went on. "Listen, if you're trying to impress him, I don't think it's necessary. Judging by the way he was looking... never mind. You can work it out for yourself. On your way now."

She ushered a flustered and extremely confused Angel to the door.

"Nice jacket, by the way."

Lilith winked.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N It's back! I haven't updated for a while because I've been on holiday, but I have pre-written several chapters, so enjoy. Also thanks to all reviewers, my number one source of warm fuzzy feelings after puppies.**

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Despite frequent attempts made by Angel to make Lilith tell her more about 'the way he was looking', the redheaded siren continued to avoid questioning. By the time the vault hunters departed in their transport to the Circe facility, Angel was no closer to the discovering the secret. Giving up, she retreated to a corner of the transport and sulked while Lilith gave the briefing.

"Listen up. Brick and Mordy are staying in Sanctuary to guard it, so we're two vault hunters short. So here's how it's going to go. All these so-called 'sirens' actually channel their powers through objects. These could be staffs, guns, or tiny magical fairy wands. Whatever it is, you've gotta be prepared."

There were several raised eyebrows and concerned looks.

"So we don't know what they are?" Asked Axton. Lilith shook her head, then continued.

"However, we can deal with this. Angel here-" Lilith gave her a winning smile. "Says she can stop the channels if she gets to the main power core."

Angel nodded. "Channeling has to use up an immense amount of energy, so it makes sense that the objects draw power from the main core. If I can disable it, it will also disable the objects. In theory. I hope."

The vault hunters did not look encouraged. Lilith cleared her throat.

"Anyway. So. Zer0, you're in charge of infiltrating the base and sneaking Angel in."

Angel and Zer0 nodded. Lilith turned to speak again, and she had a glint in her eye that the younger siren could not translate.

"Axton, you're to go with them in case anything goes wrong." Angels eyes widened and Lilith dropped an almost imperceptible wink. No. Surely not. That woman wouldn't do that to her! She was sure to make a fool of herself, and in front of another vault hunter no less!

She fumed silently as Axton strode over to her and, misinterpreting her look of horror, gave her an encouraging smile that made her heart feel as if it had dropped from her chest cavity. Lilith smirked.

"Salvador, Maya, Kreig, Gaige and I are going to be our main strikeforce. We're going to get into that base and cause as much havoc as possible to cover the infiltration team. When the channels are disabled, we can wipe this facility out for good." She finished with a grim look on her face.

~o~

The shuttle landed in a crater a few kilometres from the facility, churning the ground below it as it landed. The assembled vault hunters disembarked, and moved their separate ways, the infiltration team, lead by Zer0, heading by car to the facility immediately, while the strike force followed at a more leisurely pace. Axton glanced at Angel, who was sitting opposite him in the back of the technical. She seemed anxious, but he couldn't blame her. This was, after all, her first mission. He gave her his best smile, but if anything, this seemed to make it worse. She pulled out the Jakobs pistol he had given her from her jacket and began examining its reload mechanism. He had begun thinking of it as her jacket now.

Despite himself, he couldn't help look at her. Her bodysuit underneath was skintight. Very skintight. He quickly averted his gaze before his traitorous eyes could run themselves any further. As the vehicle turned and the back was exposed to the high winds that coursed through this particular part of Pandora, she shivered and pulled the jacket tightly across herself. Axton felt that he could not help but to envy the jacket, the way it was wrapped around her body, giving her warmth.

He shook himself out of his trance only to see Angel looking directly at him. He flushed, but before he could apologise, the vehicle swerved suddenly, sending her crashing into him and almost over the side. His reflexes kicked in and he caught her before she could topple over the edge and pulled her towards him. Several breathless moments went by before he realised he was holding her close. Very close. Their faces were inches apart, and his eyes involuntarily flickered down to her lips. Angel's face was flushed, whether from her near-death encounter or her current, near-Axton encounter he couldn't tell. Their eyes locked and Angel bit her lip slightly, almost causing Axton to groan. Blinking rapidly, he pulled away with great effort and sat back down before he could do anything rash. The desire to kiss her was still raging at the back of his mind, but he calmed himself. Being a soldier, he had discipline, but what had really stopped him was the thought that if he had impulsively kissed her, he might never see her again. She was a newcomer to this world and the last thing he wanted to do was to scare her off with his forwardness. Better to suffer in silence than to never to see those beautiful eyes again or to hear her laugh or... Axton closed his eyes, but then a thought struck him. Would she be scared off? He was no expert on women, he thought dryly, and his hand unconsciously went to the ring hanging from his chain. That said, he wasn't blind either. There had been... something... in Angel's eyes that gave him reason to believe that if he had kissed her, she would have reciprocated. He snorted internally. Or it could be just wishful thinking. He glanced surreptitiously back at Angel their eyes met again. Was that disappointment he saw? Whatever it was, it disappeared as a sudden jolt told them that they had arrived at their destination.

Zer0 leapt out of the drivers seat and beckoned to them. They followed behind at a crouch as Zer0 lead them to a ventilation shaft at the side of the building. He turned to face Angel and Axton.

"We will go in here / Then wait for the diversion / Follow me closely."

With that, he sliced through the ventilation cover with his sword and leapt inside, before crawling further down the pipe. Angel climbed up behind him, and Axton took the rear. After scrambling inside, he turned to the others thoughtfully.

"You would think, in a top-secret facility like this, the the ventilation shafts wouldn't be human-sized." Angel's lips twitched upwards and Axton grinned in satisfaction before averting his eyes. He would do well not to focus on her lips for too long. It was only as they began making their way down the pipe did he realise that crawling behind Angel offered him a view far more dangerous than her lips. And despite his best efforts, this was something beyond his capability to resist.

~o~

Five minutes later, they stopped at a grate leading down to the main facility. Snatches of conversation and strange whirring and thumping noises rose through the grate and echoed in the narrow shaft. Zer0 raised a hand to stop the group.

"Wait for the signal / Then we will move to the core / For now, be quiet."

With this, he carefully sat cross legged on the ground and began to meditate.

Behind him, Angel also sat quietly on the floor, but unlike him her mind was in turmoil, thoughts racing wildly through her head. She glanced sideways at Axton and saw him double-checking his ammo pouches. When he had finished, he stretched, the muscles of his arms rippling slightly. She shivered. Even though those arms had been around her before, in training, there was something very different about the way he held her in the truck. For a brief moment she swore she could have seen a fire burn at the back of his eyes before he let her go. Could this be what Lilith meant? Dare she hope that he returns her feelings? She took a deep breath and collected herself. This would have to wait. She could not afford to be distracted in this mission. She looked at the clock on her HUD and frowned. What was taking so long? Lilith should be in position by now. She turned to Zer0.

"When did Lilith say th..."

Her words were drowned out by a klaxon blaring in the distance. The hubbub of the facility paused, then returned, much louder, as shouts of 'Intruders!' came from below. Axton gave her one of _those_ grins.

"I think that's our signal."

~o~

They dropped down to the floor of the deserted room, the assorted tables and food trays identifying it as a cafeteria. Zer0 pulled out his sword and stalked silently to the door, looked through, then beckoned to them. Axton and Angel followed in a crouch and they made their way swiftly to a deserted hallway. Zer0 pulled out his ECHO and stared for a second at the minimap before taking the doorway on the right. The passage was a narrow corridor with large windows looking down on a immense stone courtyard. Axton paused to look closer. Thick pillars bordered the yard and there were several sandy pits, which Axton assumed were for training and sparring. Targets and straw dummies littered the training yard, many of them blackened and torn, and some reduced to nothing more than a pile of straw and some rags. Axton's lips tightened. That wasn't a good sign. He had to be careful. This was Angel's first mission, and there weren't any New-U's in this facility. Beside him, she had also noticed the dummies and swallowed audibly. He wanted nothing more than to hold her close and swear to protect her, but instead he just patted her reassuring on the shoulder. She smiled shakily back at him.

A commotion broke out at the entrance to the courtyard as several figures broke through the door, followed closely by a swarm of people in brown robes. Axton could see Lilith's red hair even from this distance. The distraction had arrived. As the two parties battled across the stone ground of the yard, Zer0 pulled them away from the windows and into another doorway. They moved stealthily down this hall, but as soon as they reached halfway a group of the brown-robed people suddenly rounded the corner ahead of them. The leader froze, then shouted in alarm and digistructed a staff in his hands. The channelers behind him also digistructed staffs, though two at the back simply raised hands that were clad in metallic gloves. The quiet corridor exploded into violence.

As the channelers started forward Axton immediately threw down his newly-repaired turret, which sprang to life before him. He drew his assault rifle while simultaneously pulling Angel behind the protective shield of his turret, before opening fire on the channelers. The leader of the channelers began twirling his staff with a smirk, and Axton realised that his bullets were being deflected by the staff. Another channeler charged Zer0, who stood still. As the brown-clad woman brought her staff down in a brutal overhead strike he flickered, disappeared, and reappeared behind her with his sword firmly lodged in her spine. Axton stopped firing suddenly when a purple light, much like Maya's phaselock, encased his gun and tore it from his grasp. The source of the light seemed to be one of the gloved channelers. He growled and pulled out another gun.

"That was a legendary, asshole!" A tug on his arm brought his attention to Angel, who hissed in his ear;

"Stop shooting! It's charging their staffs!"

Axton looked back at the channeler and noticed that the staff was growing increasingly brighter. He was about to shout a warning to Zer0, but no sooner had he opened his mouth did the channeler slam his staff to the floor, releasing a shockwave that blasted him and Zer0 backwards down the hall. Angel, protected from the blast by the shield, was suddenly face-to-face with the channelers. With a shaking hand she lifted the Jakobs pistol, but the leader sneered and batted it out of her hand with a casual swipe of his staff, and then leveled it directly at Angel's head. Axton, through a dull haze, saw the channeler raise the staff, and his vision immediately cleared, panic and rage replacing his pain. With a roar he barreled down the corridor and slammed bodily into the man, sending him sprawling. He pulled out his tomahawk and drove it down savagely into the channeler's head. Feeling a tell-tale tug on his arm, he quickly spun and sent the tomahawk spinning into the chest of one of the gloved channelers, and the purple light around his elbow vanished. Another channeler approached cautiously, spinning his staff. Axton, his blood ice in his veins, pulled out out a shotgun and leveled it directly at the man.

"Deflect this." He spat, and pulled the trigger. The channeler spun his staff desperately, trying to deflect all of the tiny pellets at once, but screamed as many of them hit home. Axton kicked the staff from his hands and ended his misery with one more shot. He spun to face the other, but Zer0 was already there, blade flashing. The last gloved channeled had a hand raised, and for a second Axton thought he was begging for mercy. And then the roof, alight with a purple flame, came crashing down apon his head.

~o~

 _Axton!_

 _Axton, please!_

He groaned, and tried in vain to move his head away from the noise. He was in pain, and the voice was very loud. If it would just leave him alone, he could slip back into comfortable oblivion. There was a hard slap on his cheek.

Ow.

The voice was back, but, oddly, it sounded choked, and hot drops of liquid were falling on his face.

"Axton. Please... please don't leave me. I don't want to be alone again."

Was that... Angel?

He wasn't aware of speaking the last aloud, but she answered, voice still thick, but her relief was palpable.

"I'm here."

"G-good."

His head felt like it was wrapped in several layers of cotton wool. He could feel cool, slender hands on his cheeks.

"Stay here." Her voice was more certain now. "I'm going to see if I can find health."

No. She couldn't leave. He reached out a feeble hand towards her voice.

"I'm coming back. Just don't move"

"W-wasn't planning to."

Her voice was clear but his sounded like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. He felt her hands leave his face and for a short time that felt like infinity, he was alone with the void once again. It was so tempting. Peace. But then he remembered Angel's voice, her tears. The void beckoned, but he held to her. The memory of her smile, her eyes. If he died now, there would be no respawning. He would never see her again.

She was back.

A rustling, and her hand was on his face again. A sharp pain in his sternum and suddenly light flooded his eyes and pain washed off his body in sheets. He jerked his head up. There was Angel, light from the newly-formed skylight framing her windswept hair in a halo around her head. Her face was streaked with tears, but determined, and she was gripping a health hypo that was plunged into his chest. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

Angel smiled down at him, and he could not hold out any longer. His hand curled around her neck and he pulled her down into a feverish kiss. She froze, and for a terrible second he thought he had made a mistake, but then her hands were tangled in his hair and she was kissing him back, hard and fierce. He nibbled at her bottom lip and she moaned, a noise that galvanised him to rip the hypo from his chest and pull her body flush with his. He flipped her over so that he was on top, but then a polite, robotic cough brought them back to the present. Axton glanced up and saw Zer0, who was standing awkwardly on top of a large concrete block that used to be the ceiling. He was silent, but his helmet showed, glowing red.

"..."

Axton and Angel rose to their feet, hair tousled and faces flushed. Zer0 leapt down from the rock.

"Now is not the time / you can... celebrate later / it is time to go."

Axton lead Angel around the block and they trailed behind Zer0. And despite near-death at the hands of homicidal magic ninjas/large concrete blocks, and despite the rather stern, if awkward scolding from a homicidal alien ninja, they could not remove the silly smiles from their faces.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Introducing... OC with backstory! Also, if anyone gets my Doctor Who reference they get a high-five and a turbomansion.**

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Much to the disappointment of Angel and Axton, they had very little time to enjoy their new-found relationship. No sooner had they made it to the end of the corridor, Lilith ECHOed them.

"Guys! Can you hurry! We're holding up well, but we could really use some help."

Over the line, they could hear Salvador swearing loudly and violently in Spanish.

"What use are two guns when one won't even do the job!"

Axton smiled grimly and led the group towards the main power core. He could tell they were getting close, as a faint humming noise resonated through the floor. Finally, they approached a large metal door labelled 'Power Core'. Pushing the door open, he was met with the welcome sight of the towering pillar of turning parts that was the power core, and with the less welcome sight of a tall figure standing guard in front of the core. As the door creaked open and the three came through, the figure turned to look at them, impassive, but did not make a move. This was the first time Axton had seen one of the channelers up-close without them attempting to murder him, and he took a moment to study the man. He was tall and lean, and had a hard look about his face and in his green eyes. His long black hair, tied back, offered a view of a small part of a green tattoo that curved around his collarbone. The tattoo looked similar to the ones on Maya and Lilith, though Axton was not very familiar with those tattoos either. A faint memory of asking about the tattoos surfaced in his mind, but it brough with it memories of extreme pain and singed eyebrows, so he quickly repressed it.

The staff the man was holding in his hand echoed the tattoo in a swirling green design that pulsed slightly. The channeler stepped forward. His robe was red, not brown, and golden knots on his shoulders signified his higher rank. He raised his hand, and Axton saw that he not only had a staff, but a glove as well.

"You will go no further. "

His voice was quiet, but forceful. Zer0 stepped forwards, patting Axton's shoulder in a way that unmistakably said; 'I got this'.

The channeler slowly brought up his staff, describing small circles in the air with the glowing tip. He seemed to be waiting. Zer0 lunged forwards, and the channeler raised the staff to parry the blow, but as Zero's sword hit, the hologram flickered and died. Not missing a beat, the channeler swung the staff behind him in a wide arc, and a grunt told him that he had found Zer0. The assassin shimmered back into view, and, instead of being irritated, seemed to actually be satisfied at being hit. Axton sighed. Zer0 and his 'challenges'. Zer0 and the channeler circled each other warily, until the channeler struck out in a flurry of blows that blurred together. Zer0, amazingly, parried them all and even managed to score a hit on his side. They continued their exchange, and slowly they moved further and further away from the power console. Axton and Angel surreptitiously edged closer to the console, and in moments, Angels hands were flying over the controls. The console began to beep as the power core shuddered, then churned to a halt. A robotic voice emanated from the staff and glove in the channelers hands.

"Power connection lost. Switching to backup power. Power loss estimated occurrence in 20 seconds."

The channeler looked up sharply at Angel at the controls, and then send a bolt of energy from the tip of the staff hurtling at her. Axton pulled Angel out of the way and the bolt soared past and smashed into the console. He glared angrily up at channeler, and started forward.

The channeler, sensing his approach, began redoubling his attacks on Zer0, this time using his glove to send pieces of debris flying at Zer0. The assassin managed to slice the debris with his sword, and they fell useless to the ground. Seeing this, the channeler backed up slowly, and as Zer0 advanced, phaselocked the console, and, tearing it from the ground, sent it hurtling at the grey-clad ninja. Zer0 spun and sliced the console in half, but unlike the smaller debris, the momentum of the console sent the two severed pieced smashing into his thin body and slamming him into a wall. As Axton approached the channeler, Zer0 stirred feebly against the wall and tried in vain to push the console off.

Axton warily pulled out his tomahawk. He might not be an alien robot ninja, but he had served ten years in the Dahl army and went through rigorous training to become a commando. He could hold his own. The channeler swiped at his head with the staff and he ducked. This man was fast. Very fast. He would have to be quick. However, as he raised his tomahawk he saw the channeler raise his glove with a grim expression and he faltered. This was bad.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, almost deafening in the quiet room. The channeler jerked his hand back as if he had been burnt, and turning, Axton could see Angel on the far side of the room, pistol raised. She gave him a small nod, and Axton leaped back at the channeler. And so they fought. Every so often, Angel would take a shot at the channeler, who would have to spin his staff to deflect the bullet, and occasionally he sent energy blasts at Axton, who had to roll out of the way of the oncoming bolts. As the fight lingered on, Axton began to feel the pain of his injuries slowly creeping back on him and he found it increasingly difficult to dodge and parry the blows. The channeler's staff, its energy consumed, was still a dangerous weapon and several dents were left in the floor where it had struck. If he was to end this, he would have to do it now. Parrying a blow on the shaft of his tomahawk, he hooked the staff with the bottom of his blade and pulled it down. Swiftly vaulting over the staff, Axton swung his fist into the side of the channeler's head with a satisfying thunk. The channeler dropped his staff and stumbled back. Axton quickly drew a Dahl pistol, but when he brought it up to bear at the channeler he found himself staring down the barrel of a Maliwan pistol aimed at him. For a moment, the three were frozen in that position, Angel and Axton levelling pistols at the channelers head, and the channeler aiming unwaveringly at Axton's. Then the channeler spoke.

"I'll tell you what. I'll surrender to you, and subject myself to whatever questioning you want, but on one condition."

Axton raised an eyebrow and made a 'go on' gesture with him pistol. The channeler lowered his gun.

"Get me out of this place."

~o~

They had rejoined the main strikeforce in the inner courtyard, Zer0 limping slightly and the channeler, hands bound, walking in front. At the sight of the channeler, the vault hunters raised their weapons, but lowered them at a signal from Axton. Lilith scowled at the prisoner.

"What is THAT doing here?"

Axton sighed.

"He surrendered. He has agreed to answer any questions, on the condition that we get him out of here. I get the feeling he doesn't like this place so much."

The prisoner's face darkened.

"It is little more than a glorified prison. And that man..." he gestured at the corpse of a man in a lab coat. "Was our jailer. Doctor Yana." He spat. "Called himself master of this place. Always looking for more power. Bastard."

Lilith looked unimpressed.

"Hmmph. Maya, Angel; Come here."

The three sirens had a conversation in hushed tones. Angel and Maya seemed to be arguing with Lilith, who sent the occasional glare at the channeler. When they finished, the three sirens spun to face him in almost identical positions, arms crossed, suspicious looks on their faces. However, Angel looked suspicious and wary, Maya looked suspicious and curious, and Lilith looked suspicious and downright murderous. Axton raised an eyebrow.

"Care to share?"

Lilith's glare swung to fix on him. "Siren business. And you should look out for your eyebrow. It seems to be attempting to escape." She answered icily. Axton spread his hands innocently. Maya rolled her eyes and turned briskly to face the prisoner.

"What is your name?"

The channeler looked up at her.

"My name is Kalad."

"Well, Kalad, we have a few questions for you that we would like you to answer."

"I will answer them gladly, as soon as I am well on the way away from this place."

Lilith sighed in resignation.

"Very well. We will talk in the transport. First, Salvador, Krieg, Gaige..." The three in question looked at her. Lilith smiled a wicked grin. "Trash this place."

Salvador gave a whoop and began shooting at the windows, and Krieg ran, buzz axe waving wildly, into a room full of consoles. Gaige saluted and echoed Lilith's grin.

"With pleasure!"

The remaining vault hunters and the channeler strode briskly back to the waiting vehicles. Axton, furtively looking around, picked up a fallen staff and gave it a hopeful spin, but nothing happened. Looking disappointed, he followed the others. Zer0 slid into the driver's seat of one of the technicals, and Maya and Kalad entered the back, deep in conversation. Axton and Angel climbed into the back of another technical, and Lilith made her way to the drivers seat. Before she got in, however, she gave Angel a smirk.

"So... how was it?"

Angel frowned.

"How was what?"

"Your first kiss, of course!"

Angel blushed deep scarlet, but Axton interrupted.

"Okay hold up. How the _hell_ do you know this stuff?"

Lilith looked pointedly at their tousled hair.

"We literally just went through a battle! There's about a million reasons why our hair might be mussed up!" He protested. Lilith's smirk, if anything, grew wider.

"Your lips are swollen and you've been giving each other disgustingly soppy looks when you think no-one is looking. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a truck to drive. You two... enjoy yourself back there."

And they did.

~o~

The journey back to Sanctuary was a long one, and Lilith's knowing looks were beginning to get annoying, so Angel was glad when they finally reached the flying city. When they disembarked the transport, the majority of the Vault Hunters wandered over to Moxxi's to celebrate their successful mission, but Lilith beckoned Angel and Maya over.

"Come. Bring the prisoner." She rolled her eyes as Axton made as if to follow Angel. "Not you too, lover-boy. Siren business." Axton sighed, and with a final look at Angel, followed the others into Moxxi's. Although reluctant to be parted with him, now that she had finally made him see sense, Angel was also curious to hear the channeler's story. It seemed like this was something Hyperion kept well hidden, even from her. She climbed the stairs of the HQ and took a seat just as the channeler, Kalad, began to tell Lilith about the Circe facility.

"The Circe project was Hyperion's greatest secret. Excluding the test subjects, only three people knew the location of the facility. Yana, Blake, and Handsome Jack. It's location wasn't even stored in the Hyperion Info Stockade; you could only access it from Helios." Angel nodded. That must of been why she knew nothing of it. Kalad continued. "The test subjects were usually Hyperion soldiers. Most were loyal to the company, but some, like me, knew too much about their methods to be so trusting." He had a distant expression on his face, as if remembering something a long time ago. He blinked as Lilith gave a meaningful cough. Maya leaned forwards.

"I noticed many male channelers, though there are no male sirens. That we know of, at least. Why is this?"

Kalad shrugged. "I assume it is because being a channeler is not like being a siren. With a siren, the power comes directly from yourself, but a channeler's power has to be drawn through a specially designed object before it can be used. The designs on the objects correspond to tattoos, much like the ones on a siren, that are made artificially and grafted into the subjects flesh. The process, needless to say, is very painful. He pulled down the collar of his robes to reveal the long, snaking green coils, that on closer inspection, seemed glassy.

"These tattoos correspond to the staff, and these-" he lifted his hands and small diamond-shaped tattoos were visible on his palms. "Correspond to the phase-glove."

Maya arched an eyebrow. "So these objects unlock siren powers? I can understand the 'phase glove', as it unlocks a phaselock ability similar to my own, but I have never seen a siren with powers like your staffs."

Kalad nodded thoughtfully. "I believe they are not unlike the staffs carried by the Eridian Guardians on Elpis. Doctor Yana didn't like us knowing too much, but I have reason to believe that Eridians and sirens are connected somehow."

Maya sat up straight, clearly interested, but Lilith's scowl deepened at the mention of Elpis. "That moon vault was bad news. But I do remember the guardians. And tell me, 'Kalad', since you hated that place so much, why were you elevated to a higher rank?"

Kalad pointed to his glove and staff, resting against a wall. "I was the only one who could use both staff and glove. Nobody, including myself, knew why. And I trained." He shrugged. "A lot. It was a harsh place, and there were the occasional beatings that Doctor Yana turned a blind eye to. My skill, combined with my ability to duel wield, made sure that I rose in the ranks." He picked at the knots on his shoulders, a bitter look on his face. "Not that it made life much better."

Lilith pursed her lips. "One final question, and I think I'll turn you over to Tannis for some further investigation. Why did you attack Angel, Zer0 and Axton if you wanted to leave?"

The channeler raised his eyes to look at them. "I originally planned to take one of you hostage." He said frankly. "I didn't know if I surrendered whether you'll have killed me anyway." He looked directly at Lilith, who had the grace to look embarrassed. "You do have quite the reputation. But when it became obvious I couldn't win, I made a bargain with the one you call Axton."

Lilith nodded, and finally seemed satisfied. "I still don't trust you, but you're no longer a prisoner here. I'll have someone watching you at all times, but you can do what you want. If you want to leave Sanctuary, feel free."

The channeler nodded gratefully. Lilith turned to Angel and Maya. "You guys should go celebrate with the others. I'll come as soon as I get our friend here to Tannis." Maya stretched, stood, and beckoned to Angel, who followed her out into the darkening night.


	9. Chapter 9

**Last chapter! I'm very sorry for the delay, but I took a while to decide what to write in this chapter.**

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The rolling terrain of the Highlands was partially obscured by thick clouds from Axton's view, as he sat precariously on the edge of the city, legs dangling in open air. He took a sip from a bottle of rakk-ale and absently kicked a rock off a jutting piece of rebar, which plummeted through the air and vanished into the grey clouds. A small noise behind him alerted him to the presence of Angel, who eased herself down beside him and sat primly with her legs tucked underneath her. He turned his head to her and gave her a small smile.

"Are you going to the party at Moxxi's?"

She nodded, but looked vaguely uncomfortable. He raised an eyebrow and she looked embarrassed.

"I've- well, it's just that I've never really had alcohol before, you know, while I was imprisoned by a megalomaniac control freak and all that." She gave a small smile and Axton took her hand.

"And, to be honest, I don't know if I really want to." She glared suspiciously at the bottle in Axton's hand. "How many have you had?" She asked with an accusatory note in her voice. Axton chuckled.

"Sometimes you remind me of..." He trailed off awkwardly, but his hand slid automatically to the dog tags and ring that hung around his neck. Angel hugged her arms around herself and stared out into space.

"You miss her, don't you?"

Axton sighed. "I don't know. I'm usually a lot more drunk when I pull these out to look at them." He took another sip of rakk-ale and grimaced slightly. "It's kinda pathetic, really, and I know that I can never go back, but it's all I have to remind me of my past."

Angel placed a slender hand on his arm. "The past... it's not all you are. You're not only a Dahl soldier. You're a vault hunter. The saviour of Pandora. That's a pretty big deal."

Axton grunted. "That's part of the problem. I worry that if I let go of the past, the whole vault hunting thing will go to my head and I'll end up like... him."

Angel gripped his arm fiercely. "Don't say that! You're nothing like Jack! I know you, Axton, and you would never be like him. You're brave, and put others before yourself." She gave a dry laugh. "And besides, even if you did get rid of your tags, I don't think that eyebrow tattoo of yours is going anywhere."

Axton rubbed the silver tattoo and grinned ruefully. Then his grin faded. "You're right. It's good to remember your past, but it's best not to hold too tightly in case it holds you down in turn." He reached for his necklace and jerked sharply, scattering small metal beads across the concrete. He raised his arm to throw it, but Angel stopped him with a hand. Delicately she pulled the diamond wedding ring from the chain. She took a breath and looked up at Axton. "This looks expensive. You don't see many like this on Pandora." Axton looked down at her, surprised.

"I suppose so. Though not everyone is a fan of diamonds." There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, but less so than before.

Angel smiled, slipping the ring into his pocket. "You should keep it." And hoping the night would cover up her blush, she added; "And who knows? You might need it again someday."

Axton looked surprised, but pleased, and gave her a sideways grin as he dropped the tags over the edge of the city.

After a few minutes of sitting in comfortable silence, he stood. "Are you in favour of joining the rest at Moxxi's?" Angel grimaced.

"You know that I've never really been drinking before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything." He smiled that rakish grin, and Angel stood up beside him.

"You're right. And besides, what harm can one drink do?

~o~

Angel staggered into the wall of her apartment building, rebounded and giggled. Axton sighed and pulled her towards her door leading up to her apartment.

"I think it's time you got to bed, Angel."

Angel just giggled again. "Hh-ey wha' do ya mean?" She slurred. "I'm havin' tha time of m' life!"

Axton rubbed his temple. "Where are your keys?"

Angel spun drunkenly and looked around her, then giggled again.

"Ohhh tha's right, they're in m' pocket." She patted her coat, and as she found the lump of metal that was her keys, she glanced at Axton out of the corner of her eye and smiled deviously. She turned to him, looking upset. "I can't find m' keys! I'm going to be stuck out here all night!"

Axton dropped his head into his hands and let out a long groan. He looked up at Angel, who was swaying slightly on the spot. He sighed. "I suppose you'll have to sleep at my place, won't you."

Angel nodded, wide-eyed. "Oh please, I don't wanna be out here in th' cold!" Axton glanced at her suspiciously, then nodded slowly and guided her along the street to his place. Angel, at this point, was swaying dangerously, so he picked her up and carried her up the stairs and into his apartment. He took off her coat, placed her on his bed, tucked her in, and made his way over to the couch. Angel looked up, and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could utter a word she dropped comatose to the pillow and drifted off into sleep. Axton gazed at her. Her hair had spread over the pillow, making a halo around her head. Fitting. He reached over and lightly touched her cheek, the retreated to the couch and settled down to sleep. He winced slightly as part of the couch dug into him slightly. It was going to be a long night.

~o~

The next day, Angel awoke to find out exactly how much drinking could hurt. She groaned, and stuffed her head under her pillow in an attempt to stop her pounding headache. A chuckle emanating from the direction of the couch alerted her to the presence of Axton. She peeked out from beneath the pillow to see him standing with an amused expression and a small bottle. She eyed the bottle warily, and Axton smirked. "Relax. It's Miss Moxxi's Miracle Cure. And it seems like you need it, badly."

Angel grabbed the bottle, took a cautious sip and grimaced. Axton patted her on the back and tried to look sympathetic, but with a grin threatening to surface at any moment. Angel glared at him, but this only caused her headache to flare. She pressed her hands to her temples. "How many drinks did I have? Six? Seven?"

Axton's grin finally broke free. "One."

She almost spat Miss Moxxi's Miracle Cure all over the bed. "What!?" She groaned and sunk lower on the bed. "I'm never drinking again." Axton shook his head, grin widening as she finished off the bottle. She made another face. "What is this made of? It tastes like skag bile."

Axton gave her a quizzical look. "How exactly do you know what skag bile tastes like?"

Angel shrugged. "It's something Salvador says a lot." Axton nodded and took the bottle to his cupboard. Angel sat up, and her headache ceased. It really was a miracle cure. She cast her mind back to last night, but found much of it a blur. As Axton reappeared, she asked cautiously; "Axton, ah... what exactly did I do last night?"

His grin was not reassuring. "Well, Moxxi's still pretty mad about that table, Krieg is still blue and Crazy Earl's getting that knife removed at Zed's. Luckily that doctor doesn't ask many questions."

Angel covered her face with her hands.

"Talking of questions..." Axton continued. "I've got a few for you."

Angel looked up. "Oh?"

"Yes, I do. I was using my- your jacket as a pillow, and there was something in one of the pockets that was poking against me. Investigating closer, I found these" he held up her keys "in the pocket."

Angel's eyes widened. That was a part of last night she remembered. In fact, when she had concocted her plan she had been the most sober she had been the whole night. Axton sat down on the end of the bed.

"The same pocket, in fact, that you searched last night, conveniently finding nothing. If I didn't know better..." He twirled the keys on their ring and fixed her with a piercing look. "I would think you were trying to take advantage of me."

Angel blushed, but a peculiar boldness came over her. Perhaps it was the an aftereffect of her night before, or maybe it was the fact that she was in Axton's bed. But deep down she knew that this was something she had wanted for a long time.

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" She shifted closer to him, and the blanket slipped down her shoulders, the black and grey of her bodysuit peeking out. She felt strangely naked without her coat. Axton glanced at her, eyebrow raised, and then moved forward and planted a hand on the bed to the side of her body.

"Unacceptable." His voice was husky.

Angel slipped a hand around his neck.

"A terrible thing, taking advantage of a poor innocent man."

Axton moved into the kiss. This time, they weren't on a battlefield, nor were they in the back of a bumping vehicle. They could take their time. Angel pulled Axton down onto the rumpled bedsheets and melted into him. Her brain was only just coherent enough to feel her fingers roaming down Axton's back, but she did nothing to stop them. She tugged at the bottom of his shirt and ran her hands over his lower back before sliding to his sides. Axton growled, but with much effort pulled back so that he was looking directly into her eyes.

"Angel. Are you sure about this. I can't say that I know anything about your life in Hyperion, but I doubt you had much experience with... these kind of matters."

Angel rolled her eyes impatiently. "Not personally, no, but you forget, I was hooked up to the ECHOnet. I had a pretty thorough education." She clapped a hand over her mouth when she realised what she has said. Axton choked with laughter.

"Y-you mean that while I was fighting the bandit hordes on Pandora you were watching illegal Truxican p-" Angel shrieked and hit him with her pillow, then buried her brilliantly scarlet face in his chest. His laughter rumbled against her cheek.

"That's not what I meant." Her voice was muffled against his shirt. He pulled her away and leant in close, murmuring in her ear.

"Well, if you're ready, I can give you a... personal lesson."

She bit her lip and smiled through her blush.

"I think I would like that very much."

Her fingers flew back to his shirt and his to her bodysuit.

And if they were a little eager to discard their gear, nobody could blame them. After all, life was short on Pandora, and they had just defeated an entire siren army, destroyed their facility, and stopped Hyperion's attempt for world domination yet again. And that was cause for some celebration.

~o~

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 **It's finished! I'd just like to thank everyone who's made it this far in the story, and to thank those wonderful reviewers for their support (especially** **TylerJoe2319). As my first fanfic I really appreciate the feedback, and I would love to hear your opinion on this story now that it's finished.  
**


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